The book, oh the book. Every day I do not write the book. But I poke at it around the edges. I send email to strangers looking for information I don’t have, and they probably don’t either. I do web searches and come up with nothing new. I arrange my notes. I transcribe other notes. I try to incorporate other already-transcribed notes into my text.

I think I am close.

I still have one chapter unwritten, I still have lots of highlighted text where I need (OK, want) to add details, and I need a good strong closing paragraph. Then I need to save copies of everything and start the tedious task of turning my cryptography into actual end notes.

Still, I think I am close.

I have to re-read from start to finish, and I need someone else to read it all the way through with a critical editorial eye.

But to have enough of a book in hand that I am thinking about needing someone to read the whole thing—that means I’m close, right?

So, I have decided I am to the point where I need to change gears. I am writing the proposal. I think I will send it out next week and see what happens.

Now I just need to hunker down and take it from Close to Actually Arrived. Stomp the accelerator, tighten my grip on the wheel, and Get There.

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Lucien Fewell shot James Clark after he apparently ran off with Lucien's 16-year-old sister. The murder trial that followed featured two Confederate generals and a former Virginia governor. What was the verdict? (also on Amazon.com)